MIDDLETOWN – There are pink flowers on the bathroom tile wall, and the cabinets are adorned with an ornate black design.

Like much of the house, the bathroom mostly looked fine, if unspectacular.

Then Paul Webb lifted up the clean white toilet lid.

The seat was more brown than white.

Inside, the toilet bowl appeared to be filled with gravel and mud. After it rains, Webb says, the toilet backs up and the house reeks.

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Paul Webb never lifted this toilet lid when he walked through the house he bought in Middletown.(Photo: The Enquirer/Keith BieryGolick)

But the 83-year-old Army veteran and retired forklift operator never opened the lid when he first looked at the home. He says he felt uncomfortable doing so in front of others.

"I never would have bought it," he said.

Now, he's stuck with the home.

And the county treasurer calls his sad case one of the worst she's ever seen.

When I met Webb, a blue "VA PRIDE" pen was clipped to his T-shirt collar. He had just returned home from a knee appointment at the Dayton VA.

His bad knees are one of the reasons he never discovered other major problems in the house he recently bought for $27,500. (The median home value for the neighborhood is about $64,000.)

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This is the entry to Paul Webb's basement, which he couldn't go down into because of knee problems.(Photo: The Enquirer/Keith BieryGolick)

To get to the basement, you take your life into your own hands with deteriorating steps and at least a two-foot drop to get started.

To say the basement is unfinished would be an understatement. Once you're down there, wooden boards cover the dirt ground.

Webb and his knee couldn't make it. So he sent his 28-year-old grandson.

After all, that's who the house was for.

His grandson has struggled with drug addiction for much of his life. But Webb says he has a job and has been clean for about a year, although he still struggles to support his wife and 1-year-old daughter.

Webb was proud of him for kicking his habit.

And the house, right across the street from Gardner Park, was a gift. A gift that's turned into a curse.

That's because when his grandson went into the basement, he didn't notice damp walls that would crumble to the touch. He didn't notice support beams sitting on cinder blocks and bricks.

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This support beam in Paul Webb's basement is sitting on a cinder block.(Photo: The Enquirer/Keith BieryGolick)

He just saw a water heater and a furnace and told Webb it looked fine.

His grandson was desperate for his own place. He was living with his wife's mom in a small apartment in Franklin, Webb said.

In addition to their child together, the grandson's wife also has two children from a previous relationship.

Webb and his grandson had already looked at 15 houses together.

So he signed for the property "as is," thinking the only problems were the basement steps and other steps on the front porch. Webb says he wasn't told about any of the other problems. (His grandson found the property from an online listing.)

Now, he's used his savings to buy his grandson another house – in addition to the house from hell.

And with all the money he's sunk into this property, he struggles to sleep at night. He often wakes up soaked in sweat, wondering what would happen if his knee took a turn for the worse.

He doesn't want to live in a nursing home. He would miss his two dogs, birds and rabbits he cares for.

But if his health worsened, would he have enough money to pay for help?

Dejected, Webb took his case to Butler County, where he filed a formal complaint.

"I got scammed," he wrote in documents obtained by The Enquirer.

County officials found there was no electric box on the property, making it unlivable. After an emotional hearing earlier this month, officials agreed to lower his property valuation to $5,000.

In 2016, the valuation was $38,680.

Butler County auditor records show Paul Webb's property value was brought down to $5,000 after he filed a complaint with the county. It was listed at around $38,000.(Photo: Screenshot: Butler County Auditor's Office)

"We all get played sometimes," said Butler County Treasurer Nancy Nix. "But usually not at 83."

Nix sits on the county's Board of Revision. In an interview, she said she has seen hundreds of cases where residents ask for lower property valuations.

"This is definitely the worst one I've seen in some time," Nix said.

Nancy Nix(Photo: Provided)

Even with the county's help, Webb was recently found in violation of Middletown's housing code and could be cited if he doesn't fix what will likely cost thousands of dollars.

To sort through the mess, he is paying for an attorney he can barely afford.